


Promise

by shinsha



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Engagement, Everyone Needs A Hug, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Living Together, M/M, Self-Harm, Sleepy Cuddles, Surprises
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2019-11-13 18:43:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18036776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinsha/pseuds/shinsha
Summary: Riku breaks down. Sora makes a promise to Riku he will always keep. Is that what Riku needs?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> NOTE: THERE IS SELF HARM IN THIS FIC.
> 
> This is actually a vent fic I wrote but I decided to post it because I worked hard on it.
> 
> I hope you enjoy.

"Riku!" Sora shouted, "I'm home! Did you start dinner?"

The house was filled with silence when Sora entered. He put his keys down on the kitchen table and looked around. It was dark and quiet, as if nobody was home. 

Sora's mind began to spiral. Did something happen? Did someone break in? Was Riku okay? 

Sora ran through the hallway, it felt like it lasted forever, swallowing him whole. But at the end. He saw a light. It was faint and dim, but it was a light nonetheless.

The bathroom door was closed, light reaching out from the bottom crack. Sora heard something... familiar, yet with a melancholic tone he didn't recognize.

"Riku...?" Sora tentatively opened the bathroom door and the sudden bright light flooded his vision before he was able to see what was there. 

Riku was kneeling on the bathroom floor, his blue green eyes stained pink with tears. His cheeks flooded scarlet with blood in sharp contrast with the shining streaks of tears painted down his cheeks.

His hair was short and choppy, and the scissors on the floor were proof this wasn't done by a professional.

The thing however that shattered Sora's heart the most however was the box cutter in his hands and rhythmic rows of red lines dotting the weeping man's wrists.

"S-Sora...." Riku looked up almost forgetting the raging storm on thoughts that were on his mind. 

Riku dropped the razor in shock just as brunette dropped down on his knees and looked Riku in the eyes.

Sora picked up the bloodied silver object from the ground, shoving it in his pocket.

"S-Sora please don't be mad I-" Riku sobbed, shutting his eyes. He was too ashamed to even look his boyfriend in the eyes. He always got lost in the great expanse of blue, and now all Riku needed was to be found.

"Can I help you feel better. Can I help you feel safe?” Sora asked, clasping his hands on top of Riku's, "That's all I need to know.”

Riku quietly sobbed, leaning into Sora's shoulder while he whispered.

"I saw- I saw her again. I didn't know what to do I was so afraid Sora. I couldn't let myself get manipulated by her again. By anyone again."

Riku murmured all his worries into the warm crevice of his lovers neck. He didn't want to be in this position ever again, but at least he had someone to help him now.

Sora pet Riku's short silver hair, kissing the top of his head. 

"I won't ever let that happen to you again."

Sora grabbed the bandages from the cabinet and slowly wrapped them around Riku's wrists. 

"Each time I wrap this around your wrist, I'm making a promise to you." Sora cooed.

"I promise to keep you safe. I promise go love and support you. I promise to make sure you always feel free, and I promise to help you feel like you can one day take her down."

Riku fell into Sora's arms, just as the room fell into silence, just as the hum of the bathroom lights filling their ears. 

The world faded into dark, and the world fell into night. It was okay. It would all be okay. 

They had each other. They were together and that was all they needed. They would remain safe and sound for as long as Riku needed. After all, Sora always promised to be there for him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sora takes Riku on a surprise date. They both get nervous about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, there is referenced self harm in this fic!

"I want to take you out somewhere."

"Hm?" Riku stopped brushing his teeth, shocked at the brunettes sudden words. "You want... To go out?"

Sora adjusted himself in the bath, the warm water seeming to get cold with Riku's sudden change in attitude. 

"Listen I.." Sora sighed, "It's been months since you've left the house. I'm worried about you, I don't want you to get hurt again."

Riku spat into the sink. There was a tinge of pink in the mint color of the toothpaste. God he needed to take care of himself more.

"I don't want to." Riku rubbed his eyes and looked at himself in the mirror. "I don't think I can."

He looked pale and sick. His eyes were packed for a trip around the world, or just to his bed. He was lean, although he always had been, though more so now since he never left the house, and hadn't seen the sun in months.

Although Sora went out every day working as a nurse in a children's hospital, Riku was a freelance artist who worked from home. Ever since he had run into *her* while going to get more ink... Well, let's just say Riku does more work digitally now.

The grey haired man flopped into his bed, scratching at the old scars on his wrists. Old habits die hard.

"R-Riku!" Sora jumped, almost tripping out of the bathtub in order to catch up to his beloved. He quickly dried off himself, his wet hair sticking up as always. "Please, just hear me out."

Riku rolled over to look at Sora. He was always so nice to him; even when he was trying to bite off more than he could chew. Nobody could convince Riku to leave his house and risk a mental breakdown while wearing an oversized shirt that said 'I survived the keyblade war' in sharpie. He'll never forgive Roxas for making Sora that shirt.

Sora crawled over to Riku on their bed, bouncing the matress with his boundless energy. He held Riku's hands with his calloused fingers, yet with the softest of touches. 

"You remember my promise to you right?" Sora said, looking delicately at Riku's scars. He really wished Riku didn't pick at them. "I wasn't lying..."

Riku had remembered, he always would. He just never thought he would. Riku thought it was just a few words hurriedly said to remedy the situation. He never thought that promise was real.

Tears started to spill from Riku's eyes. He cried easily. He hated that. 

"I remember..." Riku laughed a bit, wiping the tears from his emerald eyes, "You told me you would keep me safe. That you would be there for me always... I always thought that was my job."

Sora playfully squished the others cheeks and wiped his tears, "Silly Riku, your job is to make art, not be my bodyguard. Not anymore." 

They held each other all night that night, sleeping entangled together; just like they were kids again. They weren't kids, and were never teens, as they had their youth taken from under their noses. At least they were together, they had promised each other that.

\---

Riku woke up in darkness. Alone. The bed was cold. Why couldn't he see? 

"Sora!?" He yelled, trying to contain his panic, "S-Sora? Are you here?"

"I'm here I'm here!" Sora said cheerfully. "I'm getting your surprise date ready~" 

"Okay.... But does it really require a blindfold?" Riku asked, as the darkness in his eyes and the familiar feeling on his face brought back bad memories. 

"Yes! I just told you it was a *surprise* date. Be patient! I'll help you get dressed." 

Riku pulled on a grey hoodie and his leather jacket which was stained with ink. They felt foreign on his body, as he hadn't worn anything but pajamas for months. Sora laced up Riku's boots and guided him out the door.

Right after they left Riku smelt it. Darkness. Cold air blew through his soul and shook his bones.

"Sora I-" Riku swallowed, "I don't think this is a good idea.."

"I promised you. Trust me, please."

The two of them walked in silence. Sora took the lead, walking through the cold night air as sand? gravel? crunched beneath their shoes.

"Okay. We're here." Sora let go of Riku's hand, holding his face as he untied the blindfold. 

What Riku saw was something he would never forget.

A grey and dark beach laid before him. It was... the dark margin. It's where he and Sora had ended up after defeating Xemnas. It's where he and Sora had helped rescue Aqua from the darkness.

It looked mostly the same, the same silver water and crashing waves. The same moon watching them through the chilling sky.

The only difference was the beautiful paopu tree, almost glowing with it's brilliance. Riku was speechless.

"After destiny islands was destroyed I..." Sora smiled, looking at the ground, "I told Yen Sid I wanted some paopu. He gave me the seeds and I decided to plant it here."

"Why here?" Riku asked, "Why plant it here? Why not at hollow bastion or twilight town?"

Sora held his hand on the bark of the tree, his touch lingering on it before he jumped into the flat part, just like the way he had as a child. 

"Come sit with me! I'll tell you."

Riku slowly walked past the tree, inspecting it's bark and it's leaves. He smiled, it was almost exactly like the one they had had as children. 

Carefully, Riku sat down on the tree, not wanting to break it as he was larger now than he was as a child. Thankfully, the tree had grown as well, able to hold him up with pride.

Riku held Sora's under his, grasping it tight. Sora looked so happy under the moonlight. He looked into the night sky with that dorky smile and bright large eyes; the same way he had as a child.

"So... You said you would tell me right, not just look up at the moon all night right?"

Sora laughed, almost falling off the tree if Riku hadn't been there to catch him. 

"Well... This was the same tree we had sat on as kids, when I first promised you I would be your friend." The brunette smiled and looked at his lover, "It's special to me."

Riku scooted closer to Sora inquisitively.

"So why choose to plant it in the realm of darkness of all places?"

"This is where you confessed to me."

Riku flushed at the memory. He was just a dumb teen and thought he would die soon. Although he was embarrassed by the memory, he's glad he did it now.

"Hey Riku?" Sora asked.

"Y-Yeah?" Riku replied, momentarily lost in thought.

"This is for you."

Sora handed Riku a paopu fruit. It looked to be the most perfect fruit to ever exist, as if it was made through magic. It's skin was rough but soft, and the fruit squished under his fingers just perfectly. 

"Why give me this?" Riku asked again. He felt like he had been asking too many questions, though life with Sora was hardly ever simple.

Sora blushed defensively, "Well I..." He bit his lip, "I wanted to share it with you." 

Riku smiled, holding his hands over Soras. He lifted the fruit up to his mouth and bit into it, sticky juice getting all over their hands.

He smiled as he chewed, and Sora laughed; rubbing his nose as he always did.

Suddenly Riku felt something hard in his mouth. Was it a seed? He cleaned it with his tongue before slowly spitting it into his hand.

It was a ring. It was a bright silver, and had the design of a crown engraved into it. It looked just like the crown Sora wore around his neck.

"Sora?" Riku said, turning it in his hands, "What's this?"

Riku looked up and saw Sora on the beach, kneeling. Speechless, Sora began to talk.

"Riku. You know I promised to protect you. To keep you safe, to be here for you." Sora walked up to Riku and held his hands.

"I." He coughed, clearing his throat, "I want to marry you. I want to promise you that I will love you forever."

Riku felt sick to his stomach? Was this really happening? Did Sora really want someone like... *him*?

"I-" Riku sat in shock, "I.. I need some t-time to think."

Before Riku knew it, he found himself running into the night, leaving Sora more alone than he'd ever felt before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the cliffhanger I just wanted to write more later auuugh

**Author's Note:**

> If it wasn't clear enough, the her Riku references is Maleficent. Thanks for reading.


End file.
